The New Northern Central

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I know I've had a bunch of fits and starts in my newish space, but I think I've finally figured out how to fit my true love, Conrail's Northern Central Line, into my basement!

http://conrail1285.com/forget-coal-country-the-northern-central-is-back/

Picture this scene but with blue SD40-2s and patched GP38s.



Here's the plan minus the still to be designed staging in the laundry room. And yes, this time I AM going through the wall and I AM doing a helix. Time to step out of the comfort zone!

Here's the upper level.



And the lower.



I've been cleaning out the layout area and getting ready for construction. It's been a while since I've been this energized about construction (hence the reason coal country progress stopped) and I'm looking forward to vaccination and having      over to build and operate!

[Pomperaugrr]

I'll be looking forward to seeing how this layout progresses!

Eric

[Point353]

I know I've had a bunch of fits and starts in my newish space, but I think I've finally figured out how to fit my true love, Conrail's Northern Central Line, into my basement!
Picture this scene but with blue SD40-2s and patched GP38s.

What about C30-7, C39-8 and/or SD80MAC locos?

[davefoxx]

Ed,

Is the aisle space between Hanover Junction and the stacked yards wide enough?  If that grid is 12", then you have less than three feet for people to pass where they will be coming out of staging, working the stacked yards, and running through Hanover Junction.

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What about C30-7, C39-8 and/or SD80MAC locos?

The C30-7 is about the newest thing that I'm planning on having regularly show up.

But if a visitor wants to bring some later Conrail toys, I'm not gonna say no! They'll just want to make sure their dynamic brakes are working

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed,

Is the aisle space between Hanover Junction and the stacked yards wide enough?  If that grid is 12", then you have less than three feet for people to pass where they will be coming out of staging, working the stacked yards, and running through Hanover Junction.

DFF

Yeah, that's definitely going to be a pinch point. No real way around it. I'm going to try and bring the peninsula further to the right though. There's a post there I need to contend with but I think moving it further right will actually be an improvement.

I really wish I could've not had the two towns stacked above each other but I didn't have much choice.

[DKS]

What's inside the green box?

[davefoxx]

What's inside the green box?

I love being colorblind.  Which one is green?  I'm guessing DKS is referring to the box at the bottom right in the plan.    Isn't that the laundry room?

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love being colorblind.  Which one is green?  I'm guessing DKS is referring to the box at the bottom right in the plan.    Isn't that the laundry room?

DFF

That is the box he is referring to.

It's not actually the laundry room. It's what I've been considering the rough "no go zone". There'a triangle taken up by the laundry room and the rest is access to said laundry room. That said, it's not actually a hard and fast limit (hence the intrusion).

[Point353]

Should there be, or would you want, a passing siding somewhere out on the main so that a train from York can meet one from New Freedom?
If you don't want the siding to be visible, maybe the helix could be double tracked.
Or, is only being able to have one train at a time running over the mainline not a significant limitation?

[Missaberoad]

Should there be, or would you want, a passing siding somewhere out on the main so that a train from York can meet one from New Freedom?
If you don't want the siding to be visible, maybe the helix could be double tracked.
Or, is only being able to have one train at a time running over the mainline not a significant limitation?

Stopping trains on a 2.3% grade doesn't sound fun in either direction! Especially without CTC where a downhill train would have to stop for the switch, then release and catch it again before running thru the switch at the other end of the siding...
The grade makes an interesting bottleneck with trains piled up at either end. Excited to see this progress...

[davefoxx]

Stopping trains on a 2.3% grade doesn't sound fun in either direction! Especially without CTC where a downhill train would have to stop for the switch, then release and catch it again before running thru the switch at the other end of the siding...
The grade makes an interesting bottleneck with trains piled up at either end. Excited to see this progress...

Definitely a chance to break a few drawbars on that uphill climb.  I enjoyed watching ops on Southern Ry.'s Saluda Grade where they would balance the train over the top of the hill when they stopped to turn up the retainers.  They wouldn't consider trying to hold the train on the grade.  Granted, a 2.3% grade is about half of the average slope on Saluda Grade, but it's still steep by mainline standards.  Ooh, mountain ops.  Giggity!

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Should there be, or would you want, a passing siding somewhere out on the main so that a train from York can meet one from New Freedom?
If you don't want the siding to be visible, maybe the helix could be double tracked.
Or, is only being able to have one train at a time running over the mainline not a significant limitation?

I had been thinking about that but decided against it. The actual locations are not that far distant and I figure that having no siding once a train gets out into the wild will be part of the fun for whoever's dispatching.

As far as CTC goes, I fully plan on making it CTC'ed. But until I get all the hardware done, cut in, and enough resistored axles, I'm gonna be keeping a stack of Form Ds around.

[StewRRFan]

I am really looking forward to this.  Don't forget the ever important interchange partner, the Stewartstown RR.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Talk about timing, I log into Facebook to share this news and look what it recommends. The Zucc knows.

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